Everything about the way this guy moves is impossible. Expensive marionette or secret cyborg, I’m not sure. But this is some real sci-fi dance shit.

Just in time for Australia Day, a brilliant primer on the myriad uses of that oft-spoken word (which, for better or worst, shall forever be cemented in my generation’s minds alongside Paul Hogan’s beaming face) – Mate.

Mate. A four-letter word. A four-letter word that rivals any other four-letter word for linguistic dexterity. In The Meaning Of Mate, we have documented just 18 of its iconic uses – 18 as it was in 1818 that the first official celebrations took place of what became known as Australia Day. Each short clip is a reminder for those of us who know, and a how-to for those yet to find out. Whether by birth or just by heart, everyone has a chance this Australia Day to deliver an iconic “Mate!” to those they love and those they loathe.

Check it out here.

From light cycles facing off against a Daft Punk soundtrack, to a small-town arcade master getting employed by aliens, to Fred Savage – there is so much class to be had in Machinima.com’s list of Top Ten Video Game movies.

For those times when you’re all out of video games to play, but are kinda in the mood for some passive video-game-esque entertainment.

Plus, I hear #8 is a real  classic.

And here we all thought that Lose Yourself would forever be the song we played before QBing the championship game (possibly on Nintendo)…

At long last, an adrenaline anthem to surpass even those of the mighty Van Halen and Angus Young. Fire your therapist and start banging this daily.

If you weren’t feeling tiny, insignificant and existential enough this morning, here’s an uplifting video showing you just how small a grain of sand you are in this infinite ocean that is our gargantuan universe.

Fairly mind-blowing.

Sign the petition here:

Progressive Change Campaign Committee PCCC | Petition Congress: Protect the Internet for Innovators!.

Wikipedia is dark today, use their tool to find you representatives in congress HERE.

Want to understand what’s going on? There is a great article on Mashable:

Why SOPA Is Dangerous

Click through to Google HERE for another petition.

Thank you!

Remember when you used to play that RPG so much that you’d dream of it at night? (Actually, it might still be happening – I’ve heard many friends lament their Skyrim dreams.)

Mapstalgia is a compilation of video game maps drawn from memory. A challenge any gamer would gladly take. I think I could handle any of the maps in Kings Quest 1-4.

This blog is genius.

Mapstalgia.

What doesn’t this new flash game have? This ultimate 8bit mashup tosses characters from all the best NES games into levels and contexts from other games – and does it with serious gusto.

A bit more context from Wired’s Game | Life:

Finally finished after six years of development, Abobo’s Big Adventure features a huge variety of classic NES characters, some so minor and forgettable that you may not recognize them. Abobo himself is a boss from the beat-em-up Double Dragon. The game uses these icons as fodder for Abobo’s relentless appetite for destruction and chaos. The first level, a basic side-scrolling beat-’em-up stage, has you punting Goombas across the screen, wailing on enemies from Kung Fu and eating the heads of little girls from River City Ransom.

Wow do  I wish this was available when I was studying for the AP history tests! An interesting visual summary of the last 100 years. The choices they make are mostly expected – especially with the bombastic soundtrack they have booming, making Earth feel a bit more like Middle Earth. Still, neat to see how much of the 20th century’s major events do have some sort of film or photo footage.

Also, just about every event after the millennium involves the Earth making her presence felt – things are getting pretty apocalyptic…

P4 is set in 2011 rural Japan, where a high school student moves to the fictional town of Inaba to live with his uncle and cousin, while his parents work abroad. At school, rumor has begun to spread about a mysterious TV program, called Mayonaka TV (or as it was translated in the English dub of the game, the Midnight Channel). Rumor has it that watching a switched-off television set on rainy midnights will reveal a person’s soul-mate. However, days after the young man’s first viewing, unexplained murders begin to take place in the quiet town, where bodies are found dangling from television antennas and their cause of death unknown. He soon discovers he can enter the TV. What will he find?

Persona 4 The Animation, the acronym for which is universally P4A, premiered on Wednesday, 2011.10.06 with 3 channels airing the episode, one channel per night (the 6th on MBS, the 7th on TBS — no, not the American TBS, and the 12th on CBC). Due to Trinity Soul, there was skepticism regarding P4A. To help address fans’ concerns, beginning several months before the series premiere, roughly a dozen (I honestly lost count) trailers were released, each showing events from the game animated, with several trailers being released on important dates from the story, featuring that night’s Mayonaka TV. All the trailers told fans that P4A would follow the game’s story, unlike Trinity Soul.

I was really hoping P4A would be simulcasted, so I could watch it. To my dismay, there was no news about this… That is, until about a week or so before the premiere, when it was announced that the series was licensed for North American distribution by Sentai Filmworks, and that The Anime Network would be simulcasting the show every Thursday at 3PM EST (meaning we get the TBS airing). For a few weeks, around 3PM, The Anime Network’s site went wonky, which leads me to believe that a lot of people went there to watch P4A, causing server issues. This was a good thing, because the show’s popular, but it was still frustrating. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, the wonky-ness has since gone away.

Most of the music in the anime is from the game. In fact, the opening theme (OP) of episode 1, “Pursuing My True Self” was the opening theme of the game. This helped connect the anime to the game. The more recent episodes are introducing new music. The music was composed by franchise veteran, Meguro Shoji. The series’s OP, “Sky’s the limit” is performed by Hirata Shihoko, who did the vocal tracks for the game’s soundtrack, and the ending theme (ED), “Beauty of Destiny” is performed by Hirata and Lotus Juice, who is best known from the Persona 3 soundtracks. Lotus Juice also wrote the lyrics for both the OP and ED.

Character designs stay true to the game. They are pretty faithful to those of Soejima Shigenori. Also, the majority of the original Japanese voice cast from the game returned to reprise their respective roles in P4A. I personally verified this by playing the Japanese version of the game. So far, the only character whose voice is different is the gas station attendant in episode 1. While it was licensed before its Japanese premiere, there is no word on whether or not the game’s English voice cast will return, like their Japanese counterparts. Not as of the writing of this post at least.

Now that the facts are out of the way, let’s move on to my thoughts on the series. In MegaTen games, the main character is nameless and is named by the player. In its manga (Japanese comic), Persona 4‘s main character was named Seta Souji. For the anime however, it was changed to Narukami Yu. Personally, I’m not sure how I feel about the name change, but it is what it is.

I’m really glad that the original voice cast returned for the anime, because that makes it all the more authentic. The dialogue is very similar, if not the same in some parts, as that in the game. Narukami’s dialogue, while minimal compared to other characters, is very well done and at times, it is one of the dialogue options that you can choose, in the game.

The series can’t be an exact adaptation, so there are some differences. Some of these changes are good, while others notsomuch, not that they’re necessarily bad. One such example is that certain parts of the story are told much much better in the anime than in the game. Case in point, episode 4. We never experience the flashbacks that are in this episode, and in my opinion, the flashbacks make the episode more powerful.

The fights in the show are very well done, although they play out a lot differently than their counterparts. The major battles are much more emotional, and Personae stay out when summoned, whereas in the game where they go back into the character after taking action (either attacking or using magic). My only nitpick about this is that in the anime, the characters don’t fight Shadows (the blanket term for the monsters in Persona 3 and 4) themselves. They just use their Personae to do so. Then again, fighting Shadows with gollf clubs and such would look strange in the anime.

As someone who has played the game, the overall pacing of the series (especially the first 4 episodes) feels rushed, because stuff that takes us a while to do in the game, happens quickly. However, that is not to say that I don’t understand it. As just a viewer, I admit that it is a good pace so they can fit the story into 25 episodes, which according to The Anime Network, is how long P4A is scheduled to run. That said, I’m very curious to see which of the game’s multiple endings the series uses.

To break the series up from just fighting Shadows and such, there are episodes that focus on Social Link characters. In the game, S. Links are one way for you to get more powerful Personae. While this remains true in the show, that aspect isn’t as central. These, what I call “S. Link episodes” are more to show Narukami and other characters becoming friends, hanging out or what-have-you. These episodes can be anywhere from serious to funny, and while yes, they are basically just filler episodes, they’re also a good way to spread the story out.

My main concern with P4A is that the overall timing of the series seems too convenient. My reasoning is that in 2012, Persona 4 The Golden (basically Persona 4 Portable) and Persona 4 The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena (a fighting game) will be released, for the PlayStation Vita, and the PS3/360 respectively. The complete run of P4A will take the series into 2012, so while I’m glad we got P4A, I can’t help but to think that this is just to help hype those games. I’m hoping I’m wrong, but considering how the world works…

Would I recommend watching Persona 4 The Animation? Absolutely. It doesn’t matter if you’ve played the game, or want to but just can’t commit to a 50+ hour game, you’re given all you need to understand.

Persona 4 The Animation is produced by AIC ASTA, distributed by Aniplex, and simulcasted every Thursday at 3PM EST, on The Anime Network. Registration may be required later, but it is free.

10.

The Botero sculpture of Adam in the Time Warner Center has certainly rubbed NYers the right way. Or I suppose, actually, it’s the other way around. Apparently the thing to do is to grab Adam’s junk. Look closely at that particular part of the sculpture. It wasn’t created that way by the artist. It has turned gold from all that touching and grabbing.

9.

Photo by Richard Perry

In a South Bronx lot sits three enormous sheets of an un-assembled Richard Serra sculpture. The sheets have been there for years and no one with any knowledge about who owns it is interested in discussing who owns it. Nevertheless, there it is – an artistic symbol of industry, in a lot built to house cranes and other industrial equipment.

8.

Just off the corner of Houston Street and Allen Street is this portrait of deceased artist Dash Snow. Snow was 27 when he died in 2009. He was the subject of a profile in NY Magazine in 2007. The writer of that profile opined that Snow, at 25, was already a downtown legend. This portrait is the second of Snow by the graffiti writer SEEDR. SEEDR did the first one on the roof at Deitch Projects, for a 2007 exhibition tribute to Snow’s work. Given how associated Snow was with the latest incarnation of the downtown scene, it’s only fitting that his portrait would be rendered in aerosol on brick at the corner of two important LES streets.

7.

Ever heard of North Brother Island? It’s an island on the East River that has been abandoned for 48 years. Three urban explorers, from the Sanctuary of Hope, formerly an antinomian church in Ridgewood, Queens, have been there several times. During a recent visit, they installed the awning of the SOH onto one of the abandoned buildings there. In this way, the Sanctuary of Hope has been deterritorialized (in material) to North Brother Island. The installation of the awning notes a human presence on a deserted island and shows the transformative power that even the simplest of additions can provide to any place.

6.

photo by JSchumacher

A wall at Rogers Place and 163rd Street in the Longwood section of The Bronx is a gallery at which the artwork rotates like the art on the walls of Gagosian, Marlborough or Pace. But no matter how many times the artwork changes, the subject is the same: Big Pun. The Bronx rapper, who died on 2/7/00, was cremated, so the mural offers his fans and family an opportunity to visit and pay their respects. The mural was created by TatsCRU and has been repainted almost every year since Big Pun’s death. Each time it is rendered in a different way. A rep from TatsCRU informed me that this year they plan to do a new version of it beginning on May 10. There is currently a movement to get the corner of Rogers Place & 163rd re-named after the deceased rapper. I visited the site yesterday and took the second picture. The top one is from 2009.

5.

Picasso never once entered the United States during his lifetime, but his presence in New York is felt in museums and galleries and by this large sculpture in Greenwich Village. It is located between Bleecker and Houston in a courtyard within Silver Towers/University Village, a complex designed by I.M. Pei. The sculpture is called “Portrait of Sylvette.” Sylvette David was a girl who lived in the South of France and met Picasso around 1953. This sculpture was created from a drawing Picasso did of her. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can rest assured that it will be there for sometime to come: in 2008, the entire area was officially designated by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. The case for making the entire area a designated site was even supported by Sylvette David, who is now in her 70s.

4.

“The Sphere,” by Fritz Koenig, was on display for 30 years at the foot of the World Trade Center. Though it sustained some damage on 9/11, it remained intact, albeit for some dents and holes. Once it was retrieved from the site it was placed in a temporary storage area at JFK airport. Percy Adlon, a filmmaker, made a documentary about the sculpture called “Koenig’s Sphere,” drawing attention to its presence at JFK. By March 2002, it was installed in Battery Park. The damage sustained that day is clear by looking at it. With its holes and dents, “The Sphere” is very much a metaphor for New York City; like the City “The Sphere” was changed and scarred from 9/11 but survived nonetheless.

3.

Both sides of West 22nd Street between 11th and 12th Aves are dotted by several types of trees. What makes the trees at this location on W22 unique? They were all planted by the Dia Art Foundation, in 1988 & 1996, as a part of Joseph Beuys’ 7000 Oaks project. Beuys began the project in 1982 in Germany and did it as an extension of his idea of “social sculpture.” Each tree is marked by a basalt column. I was there the other day & I stopped to chat with a man who was selling art for someone else near the 11th Ave side of the street. The man (on the right above), who would only identify himself as a “part time Siciliano-mafioso” knew nothing of Beuys or why the trees were there. He did tell me a story about a boy who leaped from a tree, though. Across the street, I stepped into the clothing store “Comme des Garcons” and a very friendly young woman told me that she knew nothing about the project either. In a way, that’s really the brilliance of the piece. That here on W22, amongst galleries, residences & chic stores, the trees blend in. They are just there, living monuments to the very idea of public art.

2.

“Crack is Wack” by Keith Haring is arguably one of the most famous murals in the City. It is located at 128th Street and 2nd Ave in Manhattan and visible from the southbound side of the FDR. When Haring did this mural in 1986, he didn’t have anyone’s permission to do it and thus it was illegal. Now it is a protected site by the NYC Parks Department – the dream of many would be graffiti writers and public installation artists.

1.

The final work I’ve decided to include is Bill Brand’s “Masstransicope”. I took two trips on the Q train the other night to view this piece. I love that it requires a trip on mass transit and that en route riders are treated to a physical flip book. Brand did this piece in 1980 and created it by installing 228 hand painted panels in the route between DeKalb Avenue, in Brooklyn and Canal Street, in Manhattan. To see it in person, visit the Dekalb Avenue stop and take the Manahttan-bound Q train. When you board the train, look out the windows opposite the side of the train you entered. About a minute or so into the ride, Brand’s piece appears.

It happens all the time. Someone hits you with a, “What’s up bromosapien?” in the locker room. Or maybe it’s a simple, “My main man Lindsay Brohan!” as you high five. Or maybe you’re hanging with a true broet who gives you the old, “You dousing those BROcoa Puffs with some BROse Cuervo, BROseidon?”

In all of these cases, you might find yourself at a loss, which usually translates into forced downing of Smirnoff Ices or other minor hazing rituals.

You thought the age of bro was over in 2009. And for better or worse, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Memorize this simple list, my friend – and make your life forever BRO.

[List by the Brocabulary Facebook Group.]

PEOPLE:
Sports Players:
*- Bro Montana (In reference to: Joe Montana)
*- Shaquille Bro Neal [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- PlaxiBRO Burress
*- Alexander BROvechkin [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean] – BROseph
- KimBRO Slice [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BRO-J Simpson [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- Shoeless BRO Jackson [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BROshawn Moreno
- Hulk BROgan
-Tim TeBRO [Added By: Isaiah C]
- Tony BROmo [Added By: Isaiah C]
- Terrell BROwens [Added By: Isaiah C]
- BRO Nameth [Added By: Brosef Stalin]
- Chad BROChoCinco [Added By: Dan G]
- Lamar BROdom [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BROhammed Ali [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
- BROmar Garciaparra [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
- BRO Theismann [Added by Will G]
- Smokin’ BRO Frasier [Added by John W]
- BROse Canseco [Added by Patrick L]
- Bill BROmanowski [Added by Luke A]
- BROny Hawk [Added By Max Colbert]
-Brohammad Ali [Chris P. and Samuel H.]
- AlfonzBRO Soriano [Added by: Brosef Stalin]

Music Artists:
- RingBRO Star
- AfBROman [Added by: Nick M.]
- Lupe FiasBRO [Added By: Harrison S]
*- The BROtorious B.I.G. [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean] – Nelly BROtado [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BROyd Banks [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
*- My Chemical BROmance [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BRO.A.R. [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BROcho on the Track [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BROmarion [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- The Beastie BROS [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BRO Rida [Added By: Lila Day]
- BROasis [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
* – Kurt BRObain [Added By: Tim K.]
- Soulja BRO tell em’ [Added By: Phil P.]
- BRO-Yo Ma [Added By: G.I. Bro Charters]
- BRObie Trice [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- Jennnifer BROpez [Added by: Blitzer]
- The Brolling Stones [Added By Duncan R.]
- Broheed and Cambria [Ryan M]
- Bro-Tang Clan [Ryan M]
- BROne Thugs N Harmony [Added by Anthony S]

Actors/Actresses:
*- Seth BROgen
- Russel BROwe
- Angelina BROlee [ Added by G.I. BRO Carters.]
- LeonarBRO DiCapriBRO [Added by: G.I. BRO Carters]
- BROwen Wilson [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
- Scarlett BROhansson [ Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
- BROn Paul [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
*- RamBRO [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BROsie O’Donnell [Added by: Brosef Stalin.]
- BROprah Winfrey [Added by: Brosef Stalin]

Classical:
*- Edgar Allen BRO
- BROdysseus (For the more smarter bro montanas out there.) [Added By: Harrison S]
- Vincent Van Bro [Added By: G.I. BRO Carters]
*- BROseidon
- NaBROlean [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BROan of Arc [Added by: Brosef Stalin.]
- BROden (Norse God) [Added by Nate F.]
- CasaBROva (Added by Greg S)

Politics/Other
*- Mike BRhoads (Although he is a notorious Bro-Hater)
- Barrack BROBama [Added By: Lila D]
*- BROsama Bin Laden [Added By: Woody A]
- Curtis BROberg [Added: by Curtis O] – BRO Biden [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
*- Teddy BROosevelt [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- Ted LeBROnsis [Added by John W.]
- Blake BROhanka [Added by John W.]
- J.R. BROdley (Bro-King) [Added by: Phil P.]
- Brodolf Hitler [Added By: Nick Lilja]
- Lindsay BROhan [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
- aBROham Lincoln [Added by Will L.]
- BROseph Lieberman. [Aaron F]
- J.K. BROwling [Added by Harrison G]

CARTOON CHARACTERS:

*- Frosty the BROman
- BROku (In reference to: Goku)
*- SpongeBRO Square Pants
- BRO – White (In reference to: Snow White)
* – The Pillsburry BROboy
-BROmer Simpson [Added by: G.I. BRO Carters]

MOVIE/TV CHARACTERS:
- BROda (In reference to: Yoda)
*- BilBRO Baggins
*- BRObi Wan Ka No Be
- Riders of BROhan (In reference to: The Riders of Rohan)
*- BRO-Bo Cop [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- Bro-Ba Fett
- Don’t Mess With The BROhan [Added by: John W]
*-BROmeo and Juliet [Added by: John W]
- BROny Montana [Added by G.I. BRO Carters]
- BROey 101 [ Added by G.I. BRO Carters]
- BROcahontus [Added by G.I. BRO Carters]
- Captain Jack SparBRO [Added by Will H.]
- Brotastic 4 [Added by Donte A.]
- John Rambro [Added by Liam K]
- Master BROshi [Luke K]
- BROzo the clown [Richard M]
- Little BRO Peep (Added by Sean M.)

COMPANIES AND BRANDNAMES

- G.I. Bro
*- BROse Cuervo [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
-BROcoa Puffs (Cereal) [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BROton Power (Sup, Lax?)
- Dunkin’ BROnaughts
- BROkemon [Added by Lila D]
- Broca Cola [Added By: G.I. BRO Carters]
- BROpel Water [ Added By G.I. BRO Carters]
*- ABROcrombie & Fitch
- BROdells (Sports Store) [Added By: Woody A]
- Barnes and BROble [Added by Lila D]
* – BROakley Shades [Added By: JP C]
- BROshiba [Added By: "Murt"]
- BRO’s crab shack [Ryan M]
- PepBRO Bismal [Added By John W]
- BROskin robins [Added By Mark D]

SONG/MOVIE/TV/Video Game TITLES

- Lean Like a BROlo
- BROhemein Rhapsody [Added by: Bill T.]
- BROjangles [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BROmiscuous Girl [Added By: Harrison S]
- That 70′s BRO [Added by: Lila D]
- BRO Boy Fresh
*- Bro Time at the Apollo
- The BRAHffice [Added by: Buck]
- Bro Country For Old Men
- Baba BROReilly (A song that all true bros love) [Added By: Nick Z]
-Get BRO (Lil Jon???) [Added By: Lauren H.]
- MariBRO Kart [Added by John W]
- Last of the BROhicans [Richard M]
- The Count of Monte Crisbro [Richard M]
- BROtel California [Richard M]

PLACES:

-BROklahoma [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
-San FransicBRO [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
-BROakland [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
-ChicagBRO [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
-BROviet Union [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
-MinneaBROlis [Added By: Brosef Stalin]
-IdaBRO [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
- BROhio [Added By: Leah Enebro]
- MinneaBROlis [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
- AnnaBROlis, Maryland [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
- SacremenBRO [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
- BROmaha [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
- MexiBRO [Added By: Brosef Stalin]
- PhilBROdelphia [Added By Dan G]
- BRO’d Island [Added by Joe A]
- eiFLOW tower [Added by : Matt M]
-BROthesda [Added By: Lauren Hewins]

IN THE BIBLE [Added By: Eric B.]:

- aBROham [Added By: Eric B.]
- BROseph [Added By: Eric B.]
- BROah’s ark [Added By: Eric B.]
- Mary of MagBROlene [Added By: Eric B.]
- Cain and aBROl [Added By: Eric B.]
- the MaccaBROs [Added By: Eric B.]
- BROthlehem [Added By: Eric B.]
- PresBROterrian [Added by: "Murt"]
- HeBRO [Added By: Mike BRhoads]
- JeBROvah’s witnesses [Added By: Allen K.]

FOOD:
- BROquitos- good ass snack [Added by Phil P.]
- BROrito [Added by: G.I. BRO Carters.]
- BROzen BROgurt [Added By: Lila D.]
- Tabascbro [Added By Ben Hesse]
- macaBROni and cheese [Added By: Brosef Stalin.]
- BROtatoes [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
-PeppeBROni [Added By: Frankie K.]
- CaBROna [Added by Max C.]
- brotein shake [Added by Curtis O]

MISC.

Tier 1 (More useful):
*- BROfessor
*- BROmosapien (In reference to: Homosapien)
- BROmosexual
*- BROfessional
- BROtein [Added by Phil P.]
- BROmunnity [Added by Phil P.]
- ConBROsation
-Brosephasaurus [Added by: Curtis O]
- Brocism (Racism) [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BROpen Haggen [ Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BROnomenal [Added by Phil P.]
- “Legbro my Egbro!” [Added by: Gus Ramminger]
- BRObot (If you watch Jimmy Neutron)
- BatBRObile [Added By: G.I. BRO Carters]
- Bromance [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- U.F.Bro [Added By G.I. BRO Carters]
- BROfLoCoPtEr [Added By: Lila D]
- Bronunciation [Added By: Natalie K]
- Broner [Added By: Natalie K.]
- SubBROsedly [Added by Frankie K]
- BROvember [Added by Patrick L]
- BRO-Caine [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BRO-highness [A-La Aleeta]
- Hide and Bro Seek [Added by Poon]
- Bro Job [Added by Pearce B]
- BROranatang [Added by Austin K]
- Broment [Added by Nick J.]
- Brotrayl [Added by Nick J.]
- Brocrastination [Added by Josh V.]
- BRO’d Trip [Added by Nate F.]
- Broshizzle My Nizzle
Tier 2 (You will probably never use these, but if you can…congrats)
- Brodeo [Added By: Broseidon King of the Brocean]
- BROller Coaster [Added By: Pearce B] – BROctogon [Added By: Connor L]
- AlgeBRO [Added By: G.I. BRO Carters]
- Bro n Arrow [Added By: G.I. BRO Carters]
- BROtesque [Added By: Harrison S.]
- BROcession [Added By: Nick Z.]
- BROlumbia University [Added By: JP C.]
- BROlice [Added by: Woody A.]
- BROmecoming [Added by Phil P.]
- “Bro-la” (Hola) [Added By George P.]
- sloppy bros [Added by Frankie K.]
- BROdacious [Added By: Blake P.]
- bromoted [Added by Justin H]
- SupercalifragilisticecspiealaBROcious
-Bro shizzle my nizzle (Added by Marc S.)

Oh Quora. The first month I started using it, I fell through the rabbit hole and it practically became my homepage. I got bored, mostly because there was such an emphasis on start-ups and social media, and now check it once every couple of weeks. But stumbling on this question today gets my curiosity piqued again… Nothing better than crowd-sourced superlatives.

As for the most beautiful tree in the world – I love how it oscillates between North America and Lothlorien.

The Most Beautiful Tree In the World.

Axe Cop: The Movie – Part 1 from Peter Muehlenberg on Vimeo.

Please give these guys all the money they need to make this into a feature. The best comic on the web would make the best comic book summer movie of all time. Plus, how often are popcorn flicks written by precocious five year olds?

Science has finally conceded to what the zen buddhists and residents of Dagobah have been saying since time immemorial: to be happy, just live in the moment.

People spend 46.9% of their waking lives thinking about something other than what they’re actually doing. It’s a terribly inefficient use of one’s mind and, worse, it actually seems to make people unhappy…

This may seem like a rather intangible area of study, but the researchers collected over 250,000 data points from 2,250 volunteers. The test subjects used a specially developed iPhone app that contacted them randomly to ask how happy there were feeling, what they were doing, whether they were thinking about what they were doing, and, if not, whether they were thinking about something pleasant instead. In order to more easily organize the data, subjects had to choose from twenty-two general activities, which could be anything from working to eating to walking to having sex. We can only hope the subjects weren’t expected to respond immediately if they were prompted during that last one.

They discovered that our minds are wandering about 46.9 percent of the time in any given activity, and the mind-wandering rate was at least 30% for all but one activity. Thankfully, the only activity that generally got people’s undivided attention was making love. That was also one of the activities that made people happiest, along with exercising and conversing with others. On average, the least happy activities were resting, working, and using a home computer (unless you’re reading this site, of course).

Even more intriguingly, they discovered that people’s feelings of happiness had much more to do with where their mind was than what they were doing. Only 4.6% of a person’s happiness could be attributed to what they were doing, but 10.8% of it was caused by what they were thinking about at the time, and people consistently reported being happiest when their minds were on what they were doing.

And it does appear the mind-wandering is a cause, not just a correlation. The researchers did separate time-lag analyses that helped demonstrate people’s mood was affected by their wandering mind, not the other way around.

Or as Yoda puts it, “All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph.”

Full io9 article here.

Do you know how we’ve all been glued to our televisions sets watching as each of the Chilean miners has come out of the cave? It’s a bit hard to imagine the entire process with the winch, and the giant rig, and the rocket that corkscrews into the ground, and the hugs, and the yelling. So Coopersmith put a friendly face on it so we could all understand a bit better.

Here is the reality:

Overthinking It’s Mlawski writes that the infographic is a companion to her essay on why we need interesting characters who are female, rather than more one-dimensional women who brandish a sword or mouth off to the male protagonist to prove they’re no damsel in distress.

While there are obviously many male tropes in pop culture as well, Mlawski says, “Hollywood has a significantly harder time writing non-stereotypical female characters than male ones, so I made this chart to help out.” It seems most writers still haven’t wrapped their heads around the Bechdel Test, but hopefully they’ll find this picture easier to understand.

Read more here.

I used to keep a ridiculously detailed, comprehensive journal. I updated it religiously, at least twice a week, between eighth grade and the end of college. (It’s funny considering how overwhelmingly boring I try to keep my life.) After college I tried all sorts of tricks to keep the consistency up, but it didn’t happen. Sadly, when Second Skin came around (something worth documenting) I kept no journal at all.

I wish OhLife had been around then. The premise is simple. Every night at a time you choose, OhLife sends you a simple email. “How was your day?” You reply with a sentence or a novel, and it keeps a log of every email you sent. After using it for awhile, each email they send you shows you an old entry of yours, giving you that little rush of recent nostalgia.

Finally, something for the next generation of writers to study when they’re all penning your biography.

OhLife

The Megami Tensei (commonly shortened to MegaTen) franchise of role-playing games (RPGs) has a deep and rich history. The first game was released in 1987 for Famicom (what we call the Nintendo Entertainment System, in North America), and the franchise has since come to be hailed as the third most popular RPG series in Japan, after Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.

The MegaTen franchise has many entries in its main series and spin-offs, most of which never saw domestic releases outside of Japan. The number reaches the mid-40s, which rivals the number of Final Fantasy titles, many of which, again, never saw domestic releases outside of Japan, although Europe has seen more of those than North America.

Megami Tensei can be translated as “Reincarnation of the Goddess,” although I’m partial to the alternative term “Goddess Metempsychosis,” myself. Wikipedia states that “the heroine of the first game was actually a reincarnation of the Shinto goddess Izanami. Despite their retaining of this part of the title, this story feature does not occur in most of the other games, although there are always characters who could be considered to be said goddess.”

The first two games in the main series, 1987′s Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei (“Monogatari” roughly translating to “Story”) and 1990′s Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei II, although developed by Atlus, were published by Namco. In 1992, Atlus developed and published Shin Megami Tensei (“Shin” meaning “True” in this case. It can either mean “True” or “New”), and Shin Megami Tensei II in 1994, both for the Super Famicom.

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne was released 9 years later, for the PlayStation 2. A director’s cut of this game was released 11 months later, under the name Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax. Later that year, Maniax was brought over by Atlus USA, and was released as Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Nocturne was the first main MegaTen game to get a domestic release.

It’s worth noting that while Nocturne was the first main game to be domestically released, we did get 4 spin-off titles prior to it: 1996′s Revelations: Persona, released in Japan as Megami Ibunroku Persona (“Alternate Tale of the Goddess: Persona”), later re-released as an enhanced port for the PlayStation Portable in 2009; 2000′s Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, both for the PlayStation; and 2003′s DemiKids: Light and Dark, for the Game Boy Advance.

Another thing worth noting is that after the release of Nocturne, Atlus USA began giving all following MegaTen releases the Shin Megami Tensei prefix, regardless of whether or not it’s a spin-off. That said, the only other true Shin Megami Tensei game we’ve gotten, besides the MMO Imagine, is Strange Journey, released for the Nintendo DS, in 2009 in Japan, and 2010 in North America.

Okay, but what makes MegaTen games stand out from all the other RPGs out there?

One such factor is its games’ settings. Unlike the genre’s usual pseudo-Medieval settings and sword and sorcery elements, MegaTen games, more often than not, are set in modern or near-future Japan and are centered around the occult, at times combined with cyberpunk elements. The only 3 games that I know of that are not set in modern or near future Japan are Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army which is set in the 1920s, Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon, set in the 1930s, and Strange Journey, which takes place at the South Pole.

While at their core, MegaTen stories are your usual fare of “Shit happened, fix it,” the games approach it in such a way that they’re unique, dark and/or mature — something not often seen in other RPGs.

Another thing that sets MegaTen apart is the mechanics typical of the franchise. Each and every game in the series features some type of communication between humans and demons. In most games, players can persuade demons to join the battle party, although this is not the case in the Digital Devil Saga (Japanese title was Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner) games. In addition, the player is often asked to make moral or philosophical choices that affect the game’s storyline and ending.

The enemies in MegaTen tend to be called “devil” or “demon” (“demons” in this article), as opposed to the term “monster” which is used in so many other RPGs. In most MegaTen games, demons can be recruited by the player, allowing them to fight alongside one another and/or fused with other demons to create a more powerful one. MegaTen is also heavy in mythological references, as it features deities and creatures from Graeco-Roman, Norse, Celtic, Judeo-Christian, Egyptian, Chinese, Hindu and Japanese mythologies.

The battle system (in most games) is the biggest difference, in my opinion. At first glance, it’s your average turn-based battle system as in other RPGs. However once you look closer, you realize that it’s more cerebral.

Almost every demon has a weakness and a strength. Exploiting a weakness (let’s say you’re fighting a fire-based demon. Its weakness would be ice. So you’d use an ice-based attack) will, in most games, give you an extra attack. So keep exploiting weaknesses. However, if you use an attack an enemy is strong against (ie: you use a fire-based attack against that same demon), you get one of 3 adverse effects: 1) the demon will absorb the attack and regain health, 2) it will repel it back at you, or 3) it will nullify it altogether, Also, in Nocturne, Digital Devil Saga and Digital Devil Saga 2, attacking with an enemy’s strength would also make your turn end. However, enemies can also exploit your weaknesses. So, be careful, pay attention and exploit.

The art and music are the final things that I’ll talk about. For the most part, character designs are done by the rather mysterious Kaneko Kazuma, about whom very little is known. More often than not, the music of MegaTen games is composed by Meguro Shoji. While they do have a signature rock style, each soundtrack runs the gambit of styles, including orchestral, electronica, jazz, rap, R&B and hip hop. My friends and I continue to be impressed with every MegaTen (and Meguro Shoji for that matter) soundtrack.

MegaTen is by far not your average RPG franchise. So much so, that trying to describe the appeal, other than just saying “It’s different,” is very hard. I suggest you pick a MegaTen game up and try it. Then you’ll get the appeal, and thank Atlus.